By Umaru Fofana
The Government of Sierra Leone has placed an indefinite ban on all overseas travels by ministers, deputy ministers and members of state departments and agencies.
According to a memo sent to all concerned, with immediate effect and until further notice, they should “not embark on official overseas trips except for STATUTORY ENGAGEMENTS”.
Even those statutory engagement travels such as to the African Union or the United Nations, must be cleared by the president.
One inside State House source says it follows the frequent and unregulated travels by several government officials with sometimes both minister and deputy minister being out of the country.
“The state is spending on some of those travels far more than the trips are bringing in for the country”, says the source who prefers anonymity.
“These excessive levels of travel are very bad for the state and that is not what the New Direction is about”, the source went on.
Sounding concerned, another source told Politico thus: “It seems some of these officials are competing to travel overseas which they do at the expense of the state”.
Asked whether this would minimise the itinerary of the president who has himself been criticised for his frequent overseas travels, the source said: “He is the president and has to do these travels as a way of changing the negative perceptions of Sierra Leone and reasserting the country among the committee of nations”.
The source continued: “The president’s travels have brought in dividends and soon those fruits will be realised”.
Many have questioned some of those presidential travels not least in recent weeks. But government officials have maintained that the travels are not unprecedented and have been rewarding. Those rewards have hardly, if at all, been communicated to the public.
© 2019 Politico Online
